I’m miserable! I had to take 2 months off from running because of the injury. I was able to run about 3 miles then the pain started. Went to the doctor who diagnost runners knee. Since then I’ve gone thru 2 months of PT. I went on my first run last week and got to the 2 mile mark and pain started again. I’m not sure if it’s chi running but I’m staying off of concrete and mixing asphalt and trails. Has anyone else experienced a problem like this? What did you do to get on with running.
Thanks

Hi well I don’t exactly have Runner’s knee but I do have arthritis which also effects my running ... I am also frustrated at times when I can not run because of my knee issues but though I’m not a Chi instructor, I can give you some of my thoughts and ideas for getting back to running with less flare ups….

I don’t think the Chi Running is causing the pain, but did you start off with doing the Chi walking to get back on track for getting back to your running? I know that Laura on here is Awesome, and has helped me on some of the Chi running techniques to ease back to running. I was off from running too for about 3 months due to my own arthritic issues and some lower back issues… I went to a PT which helped me with getting my inner muscular strength back on track… It’s pretty much a every day routine with me in keeping up my different PT workouts. Keep up your stuff you learned with the PT every day or how every they instructed you to do. Before you head out the door and add in the body loosening. I always start off with my Chi Walking to get my body focuses. Because it’s pretty darn Cold here in the Mid west, it may take me from 1/2 mile to 1 mile of walking to get warmed up not only from the cold but also internally- warmed blood circulating as well in to the joints especially.

Since you are getting back to running, have you tried doing some run /walk intervals? That is what I’m doing now, to get back into it. I try to run about 1 or 2 minutes at a time but I don’t try to push it very far for distance so that I can focus on making sure my knees are slightly bent so that the muscles around the knees can absorb the impact.

You said that you experience pain at the 2 mile mark? What is the total distance you were trying to get to… 5k? 10K? for that particular run? I know that I can “chi walk” up to a 10k distance with out too much problem with my arthritic knees because the Chi Technique has really helped with my mid foot placement so that I’m not doing a Heel first and jarring my knee joints That may be what you are doing which is causing your unexpected knee pain to return… ???

I’ve worked up to doing a just about at a 5k distance with using the Chi run /walk intervals, it’s a slower process, but I know each time do it, it get’s better and better.

You just have to have some Patience and good luck, hopefully Laura on here can give you some other ideas as well.

Sorry about your knee! Peg is on to something - gradual progress. My guess is that when you return to running, the old habits are there. Have you gone through the injury trouble shooting guide in the Chi Running book (Chapter 9)? Most knee issues result from over striding, heel striking, and/or unstable hips (not keeping the core engaged). I would suggest going back through the basic lessons in Chapter 4, and throw some Chi Walking into the mix. For a good breakdown of that, check out Chi Walk-Run (http://www.chirunning.com/learn-it/chi-walk-run).

As Peg said, it takes patience. It also takes time to unlearn old habits. Good luck and keep us posted!